LIDISNO is the first large-scale research project that analyses the role of language in the discursive formation of sexual normativity. Based on poststructuralist and Queer Linguistic theorisations of language and sexuality as discursively shaped, the project highlights the historical relativity and variability of sexual normativity by adducing empirical linguistic evidence from various time periods. In contrast to earlier work, which has largely postulated sexuality-related discursive shifts without verifying them in larger amounts of linguistic data, LIDISNO uses corpus linguistically informed critical discourse analysis to study the linguistic corollaries of three sexuality-related normative shifts: 1. language use about a person before and after their public coming out, with US Latino pop singer Ricky Martin as a case study, 2. language use to express same-sex experiences pre- vs. post-Stonewall, and 3. sexuality-related language use before and after 1890, i.e. the time of the oft-cited desire-to-identity shift in the conceptualisation of sexuality. Each of these shifts is studied through comparisons of pairs of text corpora pre- and post-dating the respective shift, while drawing on quantitative and qualitative corpus linguistic methods (frequency of sexuality-related features, frequency lists, keyword lists, semantic keyness, concordances, collocations, colligations) with the help of the tools AntConc and Wmatrix. These linguistic analyses are complemented by a comparison of findings across corpus pairs and comparisons with various types of supplementary data (interviews, personal narratives, major English reference corpora). LIDISNO will improve our understanding how linguistic practices shape sexual normativity. Its findings will be used to advance the theorisation of normativity as an analytical tool in critical discourse studies and to devise language policies that foster greater tolerance and inclusion of non-heterosexual individuals.

A major gap in knowledge exists relating to the mechanisms via which a normal hematopoietic stem cell attains a fully transformed state via preleukemic intermediates. It is now accepted that a key player in this transition is epigenetic plasticity. Identifying the epigenetic mechanisms regulating the transformation of normal to leukemic stem cells will open new avenues for the identification of therapeutics at different stages of disease. A characteristic stem cell-like gene expression pattern is a hallmark of aggressive acute myeloid leukemia. Intriguingly, most of these patients harbour mutations in epigenetic modifiers that directly regulate stemness. What is fundamentally missing is a comprehensive understanding of which chromatin factors are involved in maintaining normal stem cell programs and how they are modulated during leukemic transformation. I recently uncovered a novel epigenetic mechanism of transition to the leukemic-state, mediated by direct chromatin binding of mutant NPM1 and transcriptional regulation of a specific set of stem-cell genes. This discovery, together with cutting-edge ultra-low-input chromatin technologies and our recently developed in vivo models of preleukemia, will serve as the springboard to address these fundamental questions: 1) How are normal hematopoietic stem cell programs regulated at the epigenetic level? 2) What are the epigenetic landscape alterations that govern tumorigenicity? 3) How can we exploit epigenetic dependencies to pharmacologically target the premalignant and/or malignant state? EpiTransformers will delve into the largely unexplored epigenome during the leukemic transformation of rare stem cell populations using cutting-edge epigenetic profiling technologies and sophisticated in vivo models to deconvolute different steps of leukemogenesis and identify cancer specific vulnerabilities. The goal of EpiTransformers is to develop new therapeutic approaches by specific targeting of premalignant leukemic states.

Cryopreservation practices are an essential dimension of contemporary life sciences. They make possible the freezing and storage of cells, tissues and other organic materials at very low temperatures and the subsequent thawing of these at a future date without apparent loss of vitality. Although cryotechnologies are fundamental to reproductive technologies, regenerative medicine, transplantation surgery and conservation biology, they have largely escaped scholarly attention in science and technology studies, anthropology and sociology. CRYOSOCIETIES explores the crucial role of cryopreservation in affecting temporalities and the concept of life. The project is based on the thesis that in contemporary societies, cryopreservation practices bring into existence a new form of life: “suspended life”. “Suspended life” enables vital processes to be kept in a liminal state in which biological substances are neither fully alive nor dead. CRYOSOCIETIES generates profound empirical knowledge about the creation of “suspended life” through three ethnographic studies that investigate various sites of cryopreservation. A fourth subproject develops a complex theoretical framework in order to grasp the temporal and spatial regimes of the different cryopractices. CRYOSOCIETIES breaks analytical ground in three important ways. First, the project provides the first systematic and comprehensive empirical study of “suspended life” and deepens our knowledge of how cryopreservation works in different settings. Secondly, it undertakes pioneering work on cryopreservation practices in Europe, generating novel ways of understanding how “suspended life” is assembled, negotiated and mobilised in European societies. Thirdly, CRYOSOCIETIES develops an innovative methodological and theoretical framework in order to address the relationality and materiality of cryopreservation practices and to explore the concept of vitality and the politics of life in the 21st century.

Biodiversity is disappearing at an unprecedented high pace in human history, with climate change being one of the main drivers of this loss. However, there are still major gaps in our understanding of how species evolve and how they may respond to climate change, making it difficult to take effective conservation action to halt this biodiversity loss. Oceanic islands - those that have never been connected to continental landmasses - are considered biodiversity hotspots, harbouring a unique biota as a result of explosive diversification events in which multiple species arise from a single ancestor (radiations). These radiations usually occur within a short period of time due to the rapid adaptation of species to new island environments (adaptive radiations). In the AsterAdapt project, two island plant radiations will be studied to learn about the adaptation process behind high species diversification and to use this knowledge to predict the impact of climate change on oceanic island plants. Specifically, it aims to assess the extent to which the specific environmental conditions of the species have determined the evolution of species traits and their genetic differentiation. These environment-phenotype-genotype associations, together with the result of an experiment simulating an extreme drought event, will be projected into future climatic conditions to predict plant responses to climate change. Using a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach and integrating different data sources, AsterAdapt will answer apt research questions in evolutionary ecology and island biology, while contributing to addressing global priorities regarding the halt of biodiversity loss and the mitigation of the effects of climate change. The development of this project will foster my research independence and maturity, providing a pathway towards establishing myself as a group leader in the field of plant ecology and evolution.